Whiting: Is Frasier the lion's grave paved over?

Aug. 15, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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A car drives by pride of lions at Lion Country Safari in Irvine. COURTESY IRVINE COMPANY

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Matt Land, construction manager for Irvine Company Community Development, left, and Mike Lyster, vice president of Communications for the Irvine Company, walk up the hills in Irvine looking for the final resting place of Frasier the lion. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Register columnist David Whiting finds items tied to Frasier's tree that includes messages in a bottle from the days when Camp James used to be in the area. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Mike Lyster, left, David Whiting and Matt Land hike into the hills in Irvine looking for the final resting place of Frasier the lion. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Matt Land, construction manager for Irvine Company Community Development, left, and Mike Lyster, vice president of Communications for the Irvine Company, both from Newport Beach, stand next to "Frasier's tree" where the Frasier the lion from Lion Country Safari is believed to be buried nearby in an unmarked grave. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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A thistle plant grows along the hillside on the hike to Frasier's tree. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Frasier's tree sits on the hills above homes being built in Irvine where Frasier from Lion Country Safari is believed to be buried nearby. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Register reporter David Whiting finds items tied to Frasier's tree that include messages in a bottle from the days when Camp James use to be in the area. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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One of the letters found in a bottle hanging from Frasier's tree saying "Thank you for the memories." STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

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Register reporter David Whiting finds items tied to Frasier's tree that include messages in a bottle from the days when Camp James use to be in the area. STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

I scramble up a crumbling embankment, steer clear of a creek and push my way through a thicket of brush doing something I never thought I'd do in Irvine: hunt for lion bones.

Not the bones of a mountain lion, mind you. I hunt for the remains of what people tell me is Orange County's most famous African lion – like there are others?

With apartments springing up around what was once Lion Country Safari, readers have asked if the grave of their beloved lion, Frasier – yes, a lion named Frasier – has been paved over to put up a parking lot.

Worse, is the mighty Frasier buried under someone's home?

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There was a time more recent than you might think that lions roamed a part of Orange County while cars – and I am not making this up – drove right next to the wild animals.

There was only one rule: Keep your windows rolled up. OK, two rules. No convertibles.

Keeping it wacky – always my attitude when surrounded by wild carnivores – Lion Country Safari advised visitors during the park's reign from 1970 to 1984: “No Trespassing. Violators Will Be Eaten!”

While Lion Country Safari sold itself on being a conservation effort, it also kept things light. A 1970 brochure reports: “There is good reason for the lion's contentment here. He dines sumptuously, without the rigors, uncertainties and frustrations of the hunt.

“He is literally surrounded by affectionate females, who also are spared the daily chores of shopping for dinner.”

Since my grandmother, who lived in what was then Leisure World, ignored my pleas to go on safari, I always wondered how Lion Country avoided having the lions eat the “graceful young antelopes,” the “monkeys with their clown-like cavorting,” the “fascinating baby hippos.” The brochure reveals all.

“An ingeniously-landscaped system of moats and other unseen barriers successfully separates the predator from its favorite foods.”

Yes, Lion Country wasn't only about lions. You also could drive with giraffes, zebras, camels next to your car. Oh, and rhinos – nature's version of armored tanks.

The president of Lion Country Safari was fond of saying the wild beasts didn't escape because they knew “full well African animals never had it so good.”

Accordingly, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Lion Country Safari also was the place that Bubbles the Hippo famously escaped. She was shot with a tranquilizer after nearly three weeks of freedom, collapsed and died.

Frasier's story is sweeter.

•••

Frasier arrived at Lion Country Safari well past his prime – or so the circus that gave him up thought. While Frasier's stay was short, his legacy was long. In less than two years, Frasier, nearly toothless, stiff-legged, with tongue flapping, sired some 35 cubs.

Soon, Frasier was the star attraction at Lion Country Safari. There were T-shirts, watches, even a movie called – what else? – “Frasier the Sensuous Lion.” It starred Michael Callan, whom we all remember from “Leprechaun 3.” But it didn't star Frasier. He had a stand-in.

Here's a review on IMDB.com: “The lion was so cool like Donkey from Shrek and Mufasa mixed with George Burns' wit, Sartre's wisdom, Charles Bronson's sense of humor, and Ethan Hawke's dignity.”

OK, maybe the reviewer was being sarcastic. Maybe.

Still, the legend grew. Frasier's fame went national with an Associated Press story that claimed he looked like a comic strip caricature and quoted Safari Zoological Director Pat Quinn saying that Frasier “whips the hell out of the young male lions.” As if there might be consensual concerns, Quinn was quick to add, “The lionesses in the pride also don't like anyone else.”

The state Assembly reportedly got in on the act by naming Frasier “Father of the Year” – an honor that stuck. Today on eBay, there's a Frasier commemorative medallion, complete with his likeness and that of one of his cubs. It quotes the Assembly and solemnly declares, “In memory of a very old lion.”

But in 1972, Frasier died, was buried on a nearby hillside and memorialized with a cross, a tree and, eventually, with the name of a camp, Camp Frasier, which became Camp James now at Newport Dunes.

•••

Some readers tell me Frasier was buried high on an east-facing hillside above Lion Country Safari. Others swear it was on the west side. Google maps only confuses the situation. A drive reveals nothing. I enlist the services of a guide, Mike Lyster, vice president of communications for the Irvine Co.

In turn, Lyster enlists the services of a local expert, Matt Land, a construction manager who grew up in the area and worked on the building of Los Olivos Apartment Village, which sits on former Lion Country Safari (and Wild Rivers) land.

When we meet, Lyster explains that the area where we're going is private and not open to the public. But he also notes that the land will remain dedicated open space forever and likely will become public in several years after it's transferred to the city of Irvine.

We gingerly swing our legs over a fence and push through what quickly becomes wilderness. We make our way across a dry portion of San Diego Creek, zigzag through clumps of bamboo-like arundo, duck under low-hanging branches, trudge through high grasses, slip through a gap in an 8-foot fence and start hiking up a hill.

Finally, we stop before a squat oak. But this isn't just any oak. Blue and green ribbons are tied next to leaves. Under its canopy, a puka shell necklace, a weathered stone glued to a disk, a box lanyard and other strange things such as a “You matter” bracelet dangle from branches.

Have we found Frasier's final resting spot?

I open an empty water bottle tied to a branch and stuffed with scraps of paper. Someone nicknamed Glee offers, “I love you Frasier's tree.” Fossil “remembers learning the story of Frasier's tree the first time.” Pickles writes, “I'll miss you Frasier's.”

After more than four decades, I can't be sure this is the exact spot where Frasier was buried. But location hardly matters. What matters are memories. And the memory tree proves that Frasier lives on.

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